Fifteen Years of M3P: A Milestone in Preserving Malta's Cultural Memory

In September 2010, Dr. Toni Sant together with a group of cultural collaborators launched the Malta Music Memory Project (M3P). Their vision was to address the risk of cultural loss by creating a collaborative, multimedia repository dedicated to preserving Malta’s music, media, and associated arts. The project was conceived at a time when the growth of broadcasting and digital platforms was producing new forms of cultural expression, yet much of this material was in danger of disappearing without documentation. M3P offered an answer: an open, community-driven platform where volunteers could contribute histories, recordings, and personal recollections to ensure Malta’s creative memory was safeguarded for posterity.

From the very beginning, the project positioned itself as a living and evolving archive. Drawing inspiration from the Wikimedia model, M3P invited contributions from musicians, fans, academics, and members of the public, encouraging a democratic approach to memory preservation. Within its first year, as reported in the Times of Malta, the project had already grown steadily in both content and users, while also working to establish the infrastructure necessary to ensure its longevity. By 2011, M3P was hosting its own conference at St James Cavalier in Valletta, bringing together local and international experts to explore the challenges of long-term cultural preservation in the digital era, and combining academic discussion with public engagement through live performances.

M3P.com.mt information session. Photo by Steven Psaila.

Over the years, M3P expanded its scope from documenting music to embracing all forms of media and cultural activity. It has played a crucial role in capturing oral histories and rare performances, including the recovery and preservation of 500 hours of għana recordings from the 1960s to the 1980s, now housed at Malta’s National Archives. It has also developed a comprehensive catalogue of Maltese music releases, connecting diaspora contributions from the UK and Australia to the island’s own output, and has pioneered ways of integrating social media and digital storytelling into archival practice.

Institutional support has been central to M3P’s development. Established with the backing of the Malta Arts Fund, the University of Hull’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, and the School of Arts & New Media, the project also received assistance from the British Academy, Jisc, the Open Preservation Foundation, and the Malta Council for the Voluntary Sector. In 2015, M3P entered into a formal collaboration with Fondazzjoni Kreattività, strengthening its ties with Malta’s cultural institutions. Its partnership with the National Archives has been particularly important in embedding the project within the country’s official cultural memory infrastructure.

Prog band Mirage's page o M3P

Fifteen years on, M3P remains an open-ended and dynamic undertaking. Its core initiatives include the Historical Directory of Band Clubs, the Charles Clews Memorial Collection, Elektronika, which charts the development of electronic music in Malta, and Mużika Mod Ieħor, documenting contemporary music scenes. Beyond these, M3P has extended its reach to projects such as documenting the Fondazzjoni Kreattività Art Collection, demonstrating its commitment to the wider arts.

Today, M3P stands as both a resource and a living cultural practice, ensuring that the voices, images, and sounds that shaped Malta’s media and artistic heritage are preserved for future generations. On its fifteenth anniversary, the project not only celebrates what has been achieved but also looks forward to continuing its mission of safeguarding Malta’s cultural memory. It remains a collaborative space, inviting contributions from anyone who wishes to ensure that Malta’s artistic and media heritage is not only remembered but kept alive.